


How We Survived

by orphan_account



Category: All Time Low, Fall Out Boy, My Chemical Romance, Panic! at the Disco, Paramore, You Me At Six
Genre: F/F, F/M, M/M, Multi
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2013-07-09
Updated: 2015-05-20
Packaged: 2017-12-18 04:33:28
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 8
Words: 14,211
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/875678
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/orphan_account/pseuds/orphan_account
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Paramore are touring with You Me At Six when things start going apocalyptically wrong.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter One

**Author's Note:**

> I swear to you I will update this eventually I've just got a lot of really important exams coming up I have the next chapter mostly done I promise

Jeremy Davis opened his eyes and looked around, momentarily disorientated. It took him a few seconds to remember that he was on a tour bus that was currently making its way from Franklin, Tennessee to wherever the first venue they were playing was. Paramore were doing a couple of tour dates around the states before they went on their European tour, and it’d been a while since he’d woken up on a bunk.

Shoving the curtain aside, he realised he was the only one still in bed, but that was hardly unusual. He threw on a pair of tracksuit bottoms and walked out to the kitchen area to get some breakfast. On his way in he passed Hayley, Taylor and Eve, one of the roadies, playing Mario Kart on the Wii.

“I’m gonna beat your ass at this, Williams!”, Taylor yelled, subsequently slipping on a banana peel, spinning off the road into mid-air and being lifted back in at twelfth place.

“Yeah, sure you are, dude”, she scoffed, ruffling his hair after she raced past the finish line in first place. Jeremy chuckled at them before continuing over to the cupboards and pouring himself a bowl of cereal. When he got back, he sat down next to Eve and watched Hayley annihilate the two of them in another two rounds before she flopped dramatically back into her chair, wiping imaginary sweat from her forehead with the back of her hand.

“I win”, she announced “which means we are now playing _Left 4 Dead_ , and you have to get up to plug in the x-box”.

Taylor groaned and dropped his Wii remote to switch some wires around at the back of the TV before disappearing into the bathroom, presumably to take a shower.

“What time is it?”, Jeremy asked, wondering how much longer they had left on the bus.

“Um, about two”, Eve replied, dropping her own remote on the table and laying down so her head was on Hayley’s lap. “We get there at six-ish”.

“Awesome”, he grinned, picking up an x-box controller. “Four hours of shooting zombies and shit. You ready, Williams?”

“Psyched!”

“Well let’s get started then!

*******

Later that night, when the show was over, You Me At Six – who were touring with them – came back to the Paramore bus to hang out until the buses stopped again. My Chemical Romance were blaring from someone’s iPod in the docking station on the table, beers were being produced seemingly from mid-air and there was a loud debate going on regarding Josh Franceschi’s sexuality, which he was woefully trying to defend.

“I’m 927% straight, I swear. I’ve never even kissed a guy.”

“Except for that sound engineer in Amsterdam”, Max quipped.

“And the lead guitarist of that local band that supported us in Manchester”, Dan added.

“Don’t forget that one guy in that strip club in Vegas”, Matt shouted from across the room.

Josh blushed furiously. “The sound engineer kissed me, I was drunk in Manchester and _you all thought that stripper was a girl too, okay!?!_ ”

Everyone burst out laughing at that, and pretty soon they all went back to their separate conversations.

Hayley crossed the room to the fridge so she could get another Red Bull, and Eve followed her out there.

“What’s up?”, Hayley asked, snapping open the can and taking a sip before hopping up onto the counter.

“Not much, just still don’t really know anyone here, you know?”

“Eh, you’ll get used to ‘em fairly soon. Everybody here’s pretty cool”, Hayley reassured her. “Anyway, why would you even need anyone else when you’ve got me?”

Eve punched her arm. “You are so narcissistic”, she laughed.

“But you love me anyway, right?”

Eve rolled her eyes and kissed her briefly.

“Of course, you idiot.”

She snickered when Hayley beamed, then deftly maneuvered herself out of the redhead’s reach before she could hit her, running back across the room and jumping onto the couch beside Taylor.

“Hey, shortstack”, he greeted her, producing a bottle of purple Wkd from who knows where and handing it over.

“Thanks”, she grinned, taking a swig out of the bottle. Taylor froze up next to her momentarily and she turned to face him.

“What’s wrong?”, she asked.

“Nothing, I just … I could have sworn I saw … never mind, it was probably just a trick of the light”, he brushed it off. “First few days of tour always make me feel weird, anyway. You talked to anyone from the other buses yet?”

“Not yet”, Eve admitted.

“Well let’s go introduce you to some new people then! Maybe we can even find you a new girlfriend so you don’t have to keep going out with that complete ass I heard you’re seeing now”, he joked.

“I heard that, York!!!”, Hayley’s voice warned from somewhere over by the couch by the TV. Eve laughed with Taylor and followed him over to a group of the roadies she’d be working with for the next few months


	2. Chapter Two

After he’d introduced Eve to the rest of the roadies, Taylor retired to his bunk.

 _Clearly, you’ve been drinking too much, Tay_ , he told himself. Part of him agreed, but another, bigger part of him said that what he’d seen out the window of the bus was more than just a drunken hallucination, and he was more inclined to believe that part - if only because of the fact that he hadn’t drunk any alcohol that night. _You could have picked up the wrong glass a few times_ , the voice he wanted to believe said. _Had a couple vodka and cokes as opposed to normal cokes. It’s pretty crowded out there. Who knows who’s drink you were taking sips out of_.  
  
He decided to go on YouTube for a while to take his mind off of it, and two hours later, after he’d somehow managed to switch from watching Dan and Phil videos to watching _Cake Boss online_ , he’d completely forgotten about the scary-looking figure he’d seen ambling along at the edge of the trees lining the side of the road.

*******  
The next day they were playing New York, and because they had the whole day to kill before soundcheck at six, Paramore decided to wander around for a while.  
  
‘Confession,’ Eve blurted suddenly, while they were still standing outside the bus trying to decide where to go. ‘I have never been to New York before.’  
  
‘You haven’t?’ Hayley feigned shock. ‘Well then I have no other choice than but to take you to as many cheesy tourist attractions as I can before we have to get back here!’  
  
‘Always the gentleman,’ Eve sighed, before Hayley grabbed her hand and pulled her off in what Jeremy was sure was the opposite direction of pretty much everything.  
  
‘How long do you think it’ll take her to notice she’s going the wrong way?’ he asked Taylor.  
  
‘Give her a second,’ he mused, chuckling as Hayley abruptly changed direction and charged back past them, almost pulling Eve’s arm off in the process.  
  
‘See you at soundcheck!’ she yelled over her shoulder as the two of them rounded a corner and disappeared from sight.  
  
‘I guess it’s just the two of us, then,’ Taylor laughed.  
  
‘I’ve been waiting for this moment my whole life,’ Jeremy joked. ‘Just wait for it, I’m gonna sweep you off your feet!’  
  
‘I’m sure you will.’  
  
‘Is that sarcasm I detect, York?’  
  
‘What? Of course not!’  
  
‘You don’t think I’m bein’ serious.’  
  
‘Are you?’  
  
‘By the end of today you are going to be crushed by my heterosexuality.’  
  
Taylor snorted.  
  
‘Yeah, okay.’  
  
Jeremy raised his eyebrow at that and grabbed Taylor’s hand, pulling him off in exactly the same way Hayley had pulled Eve off not ten minutes beforehand

*******  
‘Are we at The Olive Garden?’  
  
‘Yup.’  
  
‘Jeremy, if you’re trying to sweep me off my feet you could have at least taken me to a real Italian restaurant.’  
  
‘Shut up, douchebag, I don’t actually live in New York.’  
  
They continued joking like this for a while until a waitress came to take their order.  
  
‘We’ll have the best main course food you got, _and_ the fanciest champagne you got, and also can we get some of those little bread roll things while we’re waiting?’  
  
She smiled and nodded at them, jotting down their order quickly and taking their menus before walking away. Taylor raised his eyebrows at Jeremy, who just waggled his own back at him. He shook his head and sat back in his chair.  
  
‘Are we gonna have time to eat all this before soundcheck?’  
  
‘Relax, Tay, it’s only three p.m.’  
  
The waitress came back with their bread rolls and a pitcher of water, turned the glasses that were upside-down on the table rightside-up and filled them before smiling and walking away again. Jeremy promptly grabbed one and tore off a huge chunk with his teeth.  
  
‘I didn’t eat yet, dude, we were out of cereal!’ he protested when Taylor laughed at him. Taylor just took a roll for himself and bit into it, pondering the ridiculousness of the whole situation.  
  
‘You know if anyone recognises us we’re screwed, right?’ he pointed out.  
  
‘But most of the people that care are probably already lining up for the show. Anyway, we can just explain to them that we’re here because I’m trying to woo you, it’ll be fine.’  
  
‘If that happens then I look forward to reading you the inevitable, almost definitely disturbing fanfictions that are sure to ensue.’  
  
‘Promise?’  
  
At this point, all but one of the bread rolls had found their way to Jeremy’s stomach, and the waitress returned with two plates of steaming hot pasta of some sort and a large bucket of ice containing the champagne. She went to uncork it for them, but stopped and willingly handed it to Jeremy instead when he asked if he could do it.  
  
‘Tay,’ he said seriously, ‘promise me you’ll still love me if this goes terribly wrong and I end up taking your eye out.’  
  
Taylor, noticing the visible disappointment on the waitress’s face, decided to play along.  
  
‘I swear, he said solemnly, placing his hand on Jeremy’s knee as he did so.  
  
At this point the woman disappeared into the kitchen, clearly irritated.  
  
Jeremy sat back and laughed. ‘Okay, the one time it actually _looked_ like we were messing around with this she decided to believe it. Who acts like that?’  
  
‘I don’t know, man,’ Taylor chuckled, picking up a fork and digging into his pasta. Jeremy went to do the same but stopped after just one mouthful, looking a little queasy.  
  
‘What is this?’ he asked.  
  
‘The best main course food they have apparently. You don’t like it?’  
  
‘Hell no!’  
  
‘Me either, wanna skip to dessert and get some pizza on the way back?’  
  
‘That right there is why I am dating you,’ Jeremy said solemnly.  
  
‘Shut up,’ Taylor laughed, trying to catch their waitress’s attention again, and explaining away the weird feeling in his stomach as a reaction to the food.

*******  
Taylor and Jeremy arrived through the backstage door of the venue just as You Me At Six were leaving.  
  
‘What did you guys do for the day?’ Max asked.  
  
‘I took Taylor on a date,’ Jeremy told them. Max raised his eyebrows questioningly at Taylor.  
  
‘Apparently by the end of the day I’m going to be crushed by his heterosexuality,’ Taylor informed him.  
  
‘You aren't already?’  
  
‘Sorry, Jerm.’

Before Max could figure out if they were being serious or not, Hayley and Eve burst in the door, panting and out of breath.  
  
‘Sorry … we’re … late,’ Hayley gasped. ‘Ran … all the way … from … Central Park Zoo.’ She stood there for a minute, breathing heavily as the air slowly returned to her lungs.  
  
‘You’d think you’d be more fit, what with you being a singer and all,’ Eve remarked.  
  
‘Hey! We just sprinted for about twenty minutes without stopping! I deserve to be a little out of breath!’  
  
Eve laughed and kissed her on the cheek, then made her way back out to the buses so she could start carrying in the equipment.  
  
‘We should probably start now,’ Taylor commented. ‘You need a few minutes, Hayles?’  
  
Hayley nodded her head and sank onto the floor with her back pressed against the wall.  
  
‘Just one or two. Maybe twenty. Probably just two, though.’  
  
Jeremy patted her on the head and was about to go grab his bass from backstage when Eve ran back through the door, crying and screaming something unintelligible, with You Me At Six following close on her tail.


	3. Chapter Three

Hayley was beside her girlfriend in a flash, cocooning her in her arms and trying to sooth her. Chris was the last member of You Me At Six to come through the door, and as soon as he was in he turned the key to lock it and started shouting orders at the others.  
  
‘We need to barricade all of the doors and windows in this place. Anything you can find, anything at all, we can use amps, monitors, guitar cases, like I said, whatever’s around. Start with the ground floor, the top floor should be okay but we’ll block it off just to be safe when we’re done down here. Stop standing there you idiots, go!’  
  
Josh, Dan, Matt and Max grabbed an amp each and took off in different directions, while Chris grabbed a nearby monitor and began dragging it to the door behind him.  
  
‘What the _hell_ is going on?’ Hayley demanded. ‘What’s wrong with Eve, why are you barricading us in the venue and _dangit what is that noise???_ ’ she added as a pounding started up outside the building.  
  
‘Zombies,’ was Chris’s only reply. ‘Now will you all please stop just standing there and help us keep them out.’  
  
‘Zombies?’ Jeremy repeated.  
  
‘Zombies.’ Dan confirmed on his way past to grab a mic stand. ‘Think I can jam the main door shut with this? It won’t take ‘em too long to find it.’  
  
Chris nodded and Dan took off again.  
  
‘Okay, good one, guys you got us. That’s some of the crew banging on the doors, right? Who is it, is it Jeb? I bet it’s Jeb!’  
  
‘Jeremy, it’s not a joke. We got back to our bus, realised we had nothing to do and decided to come back over here and watch you guys soundcheck. We didn’t get three steps back out the door before one attacked us. Luckily we all managed to get away, but I don’t know how long we’ll be able to hold them out of here.’  
  
‘Yeah, sure, okay. We should probably start soundcheck now though, so would you mind telling everyone the joke’s over and helping us get our stuff back on stage?’  
  
‘I’m not joking, Jeremy, this is really happening!’  
  
‘Okay, it’s not funny anymore, Chris, the doors open in an hour, we need to set up and do our soundcheck. Hayles, Taylor, back me up, here?’  
  
Hayley looked at him uncertainly. ‘I dunno Jerm, I’m pretty sure Eve isn’t faking this.’  
  
‘Wait, you _believe_ them? Come on Hayles, it’s just a joke. Look, can you call it off now, it’s clearly upsetting her.’  
  
‘ _It isn’t a joke, Jeremy!_ ’  
  
‘Uh … Jerm?’ Taylor said hesitantly. ‘I believe him.’  
  
‘What the hell Taylor, come on! Really? _Zombies_?’  
  
‘Last night, when everyone was on our bus, I thought – I thought I saw something. A person, ambling along the edge of the road. He looked a lot like a zombie. I just put it down to feeling weird for the first few days of tour, y’know? But … I don’t think it was.’  
  
By this point everyone else had made their way back to the stage, and Eve had managed to subdue herself enough to look up at Hayley and say: ‘They’re telling the truth,’ in a shaky voice. Hayley pulled her closer and buried her face in her hair, terrified and trying to take everything in.  
  
‘We’re gonna be okay,’ she muttered, forcing herself to believe it.  
  
Jeremy hesitated a second before finally succumbing to the realisation that this wasn’t some kind of practical joke they were taking too far, that this was _real_ , that there were _real-life zombies_ trying to smash through the doors and eat them. It didn't take him long to realise the implications that must have for everyone left outside the venue.  
  
‘What about everyone else?’ he almost whispered. ‘There were already fans queuing up outside. And what about the rest of the crew? What happened to them?’  
  
There was a long pause before Matt finally answered him.  
  
‘They’re all gone. Either eaten or … turned. I dunno, maybe some of the fans got away but we were attacked by the entire crew, including Jeb. Sorry, man, I know he was your friend.’  
  
Jeremy took a minute to take it all in.  
  
‘They got a bar in this place?’ he asked finally.  
  
‘Over there,’ Josh pointed him in the right direction.  
  
‘Thanks.’

__*******_ _

Three hours later and everyone was gathered together on the stage. Everyone, that is, besides Jeremy, who was sitting on the floor behind the bar, nursing a scotch and refusing to speak to anyone.  
  
‘We can’t stay here for very long,’ Hayley pointed out. ‘There’s no food here, and I think we need to get Jeremy away from the alcohol before he passes out or something.’  
  
‘We should try and get to one of the buses,’ Chris agreed, ‘At least that way we can drive out of here, see what the situation’s like everywhere else. Hopefully whatever started this only started it here, and we’ll have time to warn people, to -’  
  
‘Who’s gonna believe us, man?’ Josh intercepted. ‘If we go speeding into the next state and start babbling about an _infestation of zombies_ you know they’re just going to assume we’re high.’  
  
‘Well we have to at least _try_!’  
  
‘I just don’t see what good it can do. I say we call everyone we know, tell them and make sure _they_ believe us. There’s no point putting it on the internet, either, that’ll just make people even _more_ sure that it’s some kind of joke. If we can convince our families, maybe they can convince other people and it’ll start a chain reaction, but I am not going to try and warn everyone we meet just to end up getting eaten or turned in a bloody _mental asylum_ because people think we’re batshit crazy, Chris, I won’t do it!’  
  
Everyone remained silent for a moment after that, contemplating the undeniable truth in Josh’s words.  
  
‘I say,’ Jeremy slurred, making his way over from the bar with a bottle of beer in hand, ‘that we just run for it.’  
  
Another minute or two passed before anyone said anything. This time it was Dan who spoke up.  
  
‘He’s kind of got a point, you know.’  
  
When the rest of them turned to him with incredulous looks on their faces, he shrugged and continued.  
  
‘Look, they stopped pounding on the doors about an hour ago, which means they’ve either given up and left, or they’re a lot smarter than we think and they’re trying to lure us out. We know that Paramore’s bus is the closest, so obviously we’re going to make a run for that one, and we know that they’re pretty slow, so as long as there isn’t a whole hoard of them piled up outside the door we should be able to make it without any problems. We’re not going to be any more prepared than we are now, because we’ve literally got no other preparations to make, so why prolong it any longer than we have to? I’m starving here!’  
  
‘Come on, guys!’ a voice shouted from further away than should have been possible. Taylor’s head snapped up to see Jeremy standing just outside the door, beer bottle still tightly gripped in his right hand, door being held open by his left. The amps and monitors and other various pieces of equipment that had been holding it shut had all been dragged out of the way, leaving just enough space for one person to fit through.  
  
‘JESUS FUCKING CHRIST, JEREMY, WHAT ARE YOU DOING, MATE?’ Max screamed at him. ‘GET BACK IN THE FUCKING VENUE!’  
  
‘No, make a run for it, look, the furthest one’s ages away! What are you all waiting for, GO!’ Hayley yelled at them, dashing towards the exit, half dragging Eve along with her.  
  
Taylor was the last to get past the pile-up that happened at the door, but the extra couple of seconds were not enough to prepare him for the absolute carnage that awaited him outside. Detached body parts lay strewn all over the ground, some of them feet away from their bodies. A cursory glance around the parking lot revealed that the closest zombie was only about twenty feet away. He was occupied, however, by ripping out what seemed to be the intestines of the nearest corpse and stuffing them greedily down his own throat. Looking down at his feet, Taylor saw that he was standing in a sticky red substance, whose texture was much too thick to be anything as mundane as blood. An eyeball, ripped from its socket, was coming to a halt by his left foot, having been displaced from its original spot by someone who had ran out before him. He felt too weak to vomit.  
  
‘TAYLOR!’ someone yelled. ‘ _TAYLOR?_ ’  
  
‘ _TAYLOR BENJAMIN YORK YOU GET YOUR TINY BUTT IN HERE RIGHT NOW BEFORE I HAVE TO COME AND DRAG IT IN MYSELF!_ ''  
  
When he still showed no signs of moving, Hayley sighed and started to make her way back out of the bus. She didn't get far before a sudden movement near the driver’s window caught her attention.  
  
‘What was that?’ she whispered softly. Jeremy, who’s evidently heard it too, glanced quickly from the window back at Hayley and then out into the parking lot.  
  
Taylor was still standing there, dazed, unable to hear any of them or snap out of whatever crap was going through his head that made him think it was okay to stand outside when there were _freaking zombies_ after their guts.  
  
‘ _IF WE BOTH DIE BECAUSE OF YOU I AM GONNA FOLLOW YOU AROUND AND ANNOY THE CRAP OUT OF YOU IN THE AFTERLIFE, YORK!'_ he bellowed, shoving Hayley back inside and running out himself. It couldn’t have taken him more than five seconds to reach Taylor, but by that stage the zombie they’d spotted by the driver’s window had come into full view, and he was standing between the two of them and the door.  
  
‘Jeremy?’  
  
Jeremy punched Taylor pretty hard in the arm in response.  
  
‘You couldn’t get your head outta your ass about five minutes ago?’ he muttered.  
  
‘What? I …’ Taylor spotted the decomposing figure blocking their path back to the bus and gulped.  
  
‘How long have I been standing here?’  
  
‘The question is, how long more will either of us be standing here, you idiot.’  
  
‘I’m sorry, I …’  
  
The zombie was edging steadily closer to them. It wasn’t recognisable as any of their old crew, so Jeremy assumed she must have been a fan at some point. If only she’d known when she woke up this morning that she’d be having her favourite band for dinner.  
  
‘I’m gonna count to three,’ Jeremy murmured, ‘then we’re gonna run. You go left, I’ll go right, don’t get within touchin’ distance of it and if you’re the last one in the bus then close the friggin’ door, got it?’  
  
Taylor just nodded and took a deep breath.  
  
‘One, two –’ just as they were about to break into a sprint, the bus started racing towards them, stopping for a millisecond to allow them both on, then the door slammed behind them and they were both flung to the floor by the speed as whoever was driving floored it.  
  
‘Taylor, you fucking idiot,’ Matt reprimanded him. Taylor just blushed sheepishly and got to his feet.  
  
‘Uh, sorry.’  
  
It wasn’t until Hayley pulled him into a bone-crushing hug and Matt burst out laughing that he realised that they’d done it. They were getting away. He glanced over to see that Jeremy was grinning at him, and, slowly but surely, his own face began to light up too. Everyone was fine, and they were all gonna be okay.


	4. Chapter Four

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> First of all, sorry for taking so long to update; school and band have been the only things I've even had time for since September. Secondly, this got slightly more smutty than I originally intended, so if you're not into that, now you know. It's not all that graphic or anything but it is there. And uh, thanks for reading!

‘Can anyone else drive this thing? It’s been three hours and I have no fucking clue where we are’, Dan called from the driver’s seat.  
  
Max stood got up to swap with him and Dan made his way over to the TV where the rest of them were watching Hayley’s old copy of ‘Pet Sematary’.  
  
'Really, guys? A horror movie?'  
  
Hayley shushed him so he just sat on the floor with his back to the couch and started watching. He’d missed most of the movie; it was at the part where the kid was knifing his mom in the old man’s house. When the credits started rolling, Jeremy poked him in the back and offered him the beanbag he was laying on.  
  
'I’m gonna go crash,’ he said by way of explanation, and then disappeared through the curtain to the bunks. Dan shrugged his shoulders and sank onto the beanbag, letting his own eyes close for a while.  
  
‘What do you guys think is gonna happen?’ Eve asked from her seat on an armchair next to Hayley. ‘You think we’re gonna get out of this alive?’  
  
‘Course we are! A couple of zombies can’t take us. Not when we know what we’re up against, anyway,’ Taylor reassured her, reaching out to give her a reassuring punch in the arm. She smiled gratefully at him and snuggled closer into Hayley’s side.  
  
‘What about the rest of you?’  
  
Almost all of them echoed Taylor, and Eve felt Hayley relax slightly next to her. She knew her girlfriend wasn’t as undaunted by the whole situation as she appeared on the outside, but there was no point in trying to bring it up with her. She’d just make some joke about being well prepared for it what with all the zombie games she played and then change the subject. Eve had a lot of other ideas for helping her to feel better about the whole situation, and she intended to use them all over the next few days. For now though, she remained where she was and silently offered her support to Hayley by making her feel needed, and sighing contentedly into her side.  
  
*******  
  
Taylor woke up with a crick in his neck on his armchair in the living area. Everyone else seemed to be sleeping in the same positions they’d been in before he’d fallen asleep too, so he figured the back room must be empty. Without turning on any lights on the way, he made his way sleepily down to the only proper bed on the bus and climbed under the covers, falling asleep again as soon as his head hit the pillow.  
  
*******  
  
Jeremy was vaguely aware of someone crawling into bed beside him before exhaustion pulled him back into hazy dreams filled with calloused hands and tangled sheets and warm breath.  
  
*******  
  
‘Hey guys, there’s a little town up ahead. Wanna go check out what’s going on there?’ Hayley called from the front of the bus. She’d taken over driving at about five in the morning after waking up from a nightmare about zombies eating her sisters. Having rung her mother in a panic to make sure they were all okay, she was far too energised to have any chance of going back to sleep, and Max had been driving for ages.  
  
‘Can’t hurt,’ Chris shrugged. ‘If the ones we saw were the first, there’s no way it could have spread this fast. If they weren’t …’  
  
‘Then at least we’ll know,’ Josh said grimly.  
  
‘Yeah, that,’ Chris finished weakly. There was silence in the bus for a few minutes, until …  
  
‘Or we could just wait until the next town?’  
  
‘Yeah, I like Matt’s idea.’  
  
‘Let’s do that.’  
  
Hayley rolled her eyes at them and bypassed the town, wishing Eve would hurry up and get out of the shower already. Although …  
  
‘Do one of you guys mind taking over now? I really need a shower.’  
  
‘Sure, but you’re gonna have to wait for the shower. Eve just got in.’  
  
‘I know,’ Hayley smirked, grabbing a towel and sauntering towards the bathroom.  
  
‘Oh. _Oh_ ,’ Josh stammered, his face going red.  
  
‘ _Idiot_ ,’ Matt muttered.  
  
*******  
  
Jeremy woke up with a pounding headache, a dry mouth and his arm around someone’s waist. Trying to push away the first two feelings, he concentrated on the last, figuring he must have gotten really drunk and went home with some girl from some bar. Usually in these situations, he’d make his excuses, leave and that would be that, but this was a really warm bed and a really bad headache and a _really_ comfortable girl. She was lying facing him with her head tucked under his chin and their legs entangled, and without opening his eyes Jeremy leaned his head down to kiss her, hoping maybe if he stayed long enough she’d give him a glass of water and some pain meds. Or at least that they could have lazy morning sex.  
  
Apparently she’d been sleeping too, because unresponsiveness changed into a lazy tangling of tongues and Jeremy still hadn’t opened his eyes but _damn_ this girl was a good kisser. Things started getting hotter and heavier and the kissing got more frantic. Hands were trailing all over him except for the one place he wanted them, nails scrawling down his back and playing with his nipples and caressing his ass and pulling his hair and oh _God_ he couldn’t take this teasing anymore so he let his own hands start wandering downwards. And stopped short when he felt something hard and heavy leaking on her stomach. _His_ stomach, apparently.  
  
His eyes sprang open and he was staring at Taylor, who had sprung up from the bed and seemed just as shocked as he was.  
  
‘Um…’  
  
‘I …’  
  
‘Well this is …’  
  
‘I didn’t know it was you, dude, I swear, I opened my eyes about a second before you did!’  
  
‘But I have a _beard_! You were touching my _face_!’  
  
‘Lots of guys have beards!’  
  
‘So you’ve _done_ this with guys before?’  
  
‘Oh, well … um, I guess?’  
  
Jeremy sighed and rubbed his face. It was too early and he was too hungover to deal with this right now.  
  
‘Bring me water and some pain meds and we forget that this ever happened?’  
  
‘Really? You want me to go into the kitchen looking like this when we’re probably the only two people still not up?’  
  
Jeremy looked confused for about two seconds before realising that oh, Taylor was still hard, and actually, so was he and that no, he would rather the rest of the bus didn’t know what had just transpired.  
  
’So go get off in the bathroom and then bring me pain meds and water?’ he tried.  
  
‘You have to pass through the TV area to get to the bathroom.’  
  
‘How could anyone possibly think that was a good idea?’  
  
‘Bus designers, dude. Who knows what goes on in their crazy, messed up heads?’.  
  
Taylor sat back down on the bed with his back against the headboard. Jeremy’s headache was starting to intensify and his boner was starting to get fucking painful and there didn’t seem to be any way out of this room until one or both of them managed to get off. He groaned inwardly.  
  
‘C’mere,’ he mumbled.  
  
‘I’m already sitting on the bed, what more do you want?’  
  
‘C’mere!’ Jeremy insisted, and rolled over onto his side when he felt Taylor lay down next to him, eyes narrowed in suspicion.  
  
‘What?’  
  
Jeremy reached out and grabbed his face, kissing him for a few seconds before letting his hand wander downwards again, fingers playing with his waistband and wondering absent-mindedly if he was going insane. Taylor was clearly wondering the same thing, because he pulled back almost immediately and frowned at his friend.  
  
‘What are you doing?’  
  
‘I’m hard. You’re hard. I’ve got a headache and neither of us seem to be leaving this room without getting rid of our boners first. Clearly we were both enjoying it before we figured out who we were with, and it’s not like we’re confessing undying love for each other, it’s just a practical solution to an awkward situation. Plus, I took you on an awesome date yesterday, so you kind of owe me.’  
  
‘I don’t owe you anything,’ Taylor protested, but he didn’t resist for very long when Jeremy started kissing him again, and if he was having any more doubts about the situation when Jeremy climbed on top of him and started sucking on his neck, the hand that slid its way into his bandmate’s boxers was contradicting him massively.  
  
*******  
  
By three in the afternoon, everyone was fully dressed and ready to stop in the next town they passed. Trouble was, no-one had any idea where they were or how far they were from anywhere, and a new predicament had crossed Eve’s mind.  
  
‘Have any of the rest of you noticed the severe lack of traffic since we started driving?’  
  
‘… Shit.’  
  
‘Now that you mention it, I don’t think I’ve seen more than five or six other cars the whole time we’ve been driving.’  
  
‘Maybe we’ve just been taking really little-known back roads everywhere without noticing?’  
  
‘I don’t know about the rest of you but when I was driving we were on motorways the whole time,’ Dan replied dejectedly.  
  
There was a chorus of ‘same’s and ‘me too’s from Hayley and the rest of the You Me At Six guys, and Jeremy affirmed that they were still driving on one as they spoke.  
  
‘But there ain’t nothin’ we can do about it, so I say we just keep going until we find another town like we planned, and take it from there,’ he added. Taylor made a faint noise of agreement and Jeremy glanced at him quickly before refocusing his attention on the road.  
  
‘Guys? _Guys!_ There’s a person standing in the middle of the road!’  
  
‘Well _knock it over_ you idiot, don’t just let it go!’  
  
‘ _No_ , Max, it’s an actual person, not a zombie! Look, he’s trying to get us to pull over!’  
  
‘Don’t, it could be a trap!’  
  
‘What, you think he’s in league with the zombies? I don’t think they’re the most reasonable of people, Chris.’  
  
‘Stop being idiots and let the poor guy in!’ Hayley yelled. ‘You’re gonna run him over if you don’t stop soon, Jerm!’  
  
Jeremy slammed on the brakes just in time, and Hayley opened the door to let the guy in.  
  
‘Oh. You’re you,’ she greeted him.  
  
‘I’m me’ the guy agreed, adjusting his hat and making himself comfortable on the beanbag by the TV. ‘Do you guys have any food? My tour manager got eaten and left me to find my own fucking meals, can you believe him?’  
  
‘What the fuck is Justin Bieber doing on our bus?’ Matt demanded, emerging from the bathroom.  
  
‘I told you we should’ve run him over,’ Max shrugged.  
  
*******  
  
‘And then I told my mom to go to the store to get me some Pop-Tarts, because we were out, right? And that bitch was all ‘I can’t go outside, Justin, there are seven zombies in the front yard alone!’ but I was like mom, did you not hear me right? We’re _out_ of _Pop-Tarts_. But she still wouldn’t go so I shoved her out the front door and she barely got two steps before a zombie got her. Fucking bitch.’  
  
Justin’s obnoxious voice was carrying all the way from the kitchen to the back room where everyone besides Taylor, who was driving, were hiding from him. He didn’t seem to mind as long as he had at least one person to torture.  
  
‘Can we _please_ shove him back out?’ Josh begged, not for the first time.  
  
‘We can’t just leave him out there, Josh, we’ve passed about ten different groups of zombies since we picked him up,’ Eve repeated patiently.  
  
‘Great, let’s drive back and let one of them eat him.’  
  
‘Josh …’  
  
‘He just admitted to _feeding his own mother to the zombies_ Eve. I’m not being unreasonable. And how much longer do you think Taylor will be able to cope up there before he finally cracks and drives us off a cliff, because I admire him for not doing it three hours ago.’  
  
Eve just shook her head and stood up.

'I’m gonna go relieve Taylor now, and if you don’t stop conspiring to kill him then so help me I will tell him I’ve been sitting down hear listening to all of you arguing about who gets to give him a blowjob.’  
  
They moaned collectively and Hayley got up to go after her girlfriend.  
  
‘I’m not leaving her endure that alone!’ she said defensively when everyone stared.  
  
‘That is true love right there,’ Max sighed.  
  
*******

‘When Taylor didn’t come back down for fifteen minutes after Hayley and Eve had left, Jeremy went out to check if he was okay. He found him leaning against his bunk, hitting his head repeatedly off of the top of it.  
  
‘You think if I hit it hard enough it’ll knock all the stupid out?’ he asked when he noticed Jeremy watching him.  
  
‘I think you’d have to hit it pretty hard, buddy,’ Jeremy answered, walking up to pat him on the back. Taylor stiffened awkwardly at the contact, and Jeremy pulled his hand away.  
  
‘We should probably talk about this morning, huh?’ he sighed. Taylor rested his face against his bunk and mumbled:‘I’d really rather not.’  
  
‘Right, so you’d rather have this giant cloud of awkward between us for who knows how long while we’re already on the run from zombies and trying to avoid picking up anymore of whatever the hell species that Bieber kid is?’  
  
‘Yep, sounds just fine to me.’  
  
‘Tay, come on! What’s wrong with you?’  
  
‘Can you please just leave this for now?’  
  
‘Until when?’  
  
‘I don’t know, just not now!’  
  
‘Dammit Taylor, was it that bad you can’t even look at me?’  
  
Taylor snorted.  
  
‘No, that’s not it.’  
  
‘Well then what is it, man? Tell me so things can go back to normal and I don’t have you pissed at me on top of everything else that’s going on here.’  
  
At that last word he pulled Taylor away from the bunk so they were facing each other and pinned his arms above his head before he could try to escape.  
  
‘Jeremy, let me go,’ Taylor ordered, blushing furiously.  
  
‘I will, as soon as you promise we can talk about this and get it over with.’  
  
‘Come on Jerm, just leave it,’ his face was getting even redder and Jeremy absolutely did not find it cute. At all.  
  
‘Taylor, I can’t deal with you being angry at me right now. Not on top of everything else.’  
  
‘I’m not mad at you, now will you please just let me go to bed?’  
  
‘Fine,’ Jeremy sighed stepping away and watching as Taylor quickly turned around to climb into his bunk. Not quickly enough, though, because Jeremy could finally see what had been causing him so much discomfort.  
  
‘Wait!’ he grabbed Taylor’s wrist.  
  
‘ _What_?’  
  
‘You um … you need any help with that?’ he asked, gesturing at the growing bulge in his friend’s jeans.  
  
‘Oh, I … um … I …’  
  
Jeremy scrambled up into the bunk, pulling Taylor with him and clambering on top of him once they were both in. He yanked the curtain shut, pulled his Taylor’s pants down around his ankles and stuck his hand into his underwear.  
  
‘Yeah?’ he asked.  
  
‘Okay.’


	5. Chapter Five

‘He just ate the last box of Cap’n Crunch.’

Hayley was sitting on the seat beside the driver’s one, staring incredulously.

‘Like, the entire box. He just ... he …’

There wasn’t much that would make Hayley consider leaving any living being to the mercy of hoards of hungry zombies, but she was pretty sure that Justin was doing everything in his power to test her dwindling reserve.  
Justin was sitting on the counter with the empty cereal box next to him, x-box controller in his hands and a Pop-Tart wedged between his teeth.

‘Hey, uh, Justin?’

‘Sh, ‘m tryn comfemae!’

‘Um … what?’

He rolled his eyes, paused his game of COD and removed the Pop-Tart from his mouth.

‘I _said_ , shush, I’m trying to concentrate.’

‘Well, I need to talk to you for a minute, so you need to listen, okay?’ 

‘Yeah, later. I’m busy.’ He took a bite of the Pop-Tart, unpaused the game and proceeded to completely ignore Hayley until she walked over, unplugged the x-box and stood in front of the TV screen with her arms crossed. 

‘There are ten of us on this bus. You need to stop eating all the food until we find somewhere that isn’t completely overrun by zombies to go grocery shopping in. Got it?’ 

_‘I CAN’T BELIEVE YOU JUST UNPLUGGED MY GAME!’_

‘Okay first off, that’s _my_ game, and secondly, did you even hear what I just said? Zombie apocalypse. Ten people. Stop eating all of the food.’ 

‘Okay, yeah, but on a serious note, out of the ten of us on this bus, who’s the most important?’ 

Hayley barely managed to clamp down on the urge to smack him over the head. 

‘We are all equally important, you douchebag. And, more importantly, this is _our __bus, that’s _our_ x-box and _our food, all of which we are sharing with you, even though you’ve been nothing but a complete _ass_ to all of us since you got on here. My girlfriend and I are the only reason you haven’t been tossed into the middle of a herd of zombies yet, so I would _suggest_ that you start showing us all some respect, or me and Eve will stop trying to convince everyone that you’re an actual human with actual emotions and actual nerve endings that will not be feeling too good if they’re being ripped apart, okay?’__

She felt pretty pleased with herself, until … 

‘Ooooh, okay, I understand now.’ 

‘Great, thanks for – uh, what are you - ’ 

‘ _You get your hands off my girlfriend right now or I will come back there and rip you to shreds myself!_ ’ came a shriek from the driver’s seat when Eve glimpsed him in the mirror, grabbing hold of a stunned Hayley and trapping her up against the wall, sticking his tongue down her throat. The bus screeched to a halt and Hayley finally regained enough composure to shove him away and knee him hard in the crotch, which sent him crashing to the floor, whimpering and clutching at himself. 

‘ _What did you think you were doing_?’ Hayley yelled at him, wiping furiously at her mouth. 

‘I thought you were trying to tell me you wanted a threesome!’ he moaned back, tears streaming from his eyes. 

‘ _Where the hell did you get that from?’_

‘You said you and your girlfriend were the only reason I’m still on this bus!’ 

‘ _Because we didn’t want to be the cause of anyone dying you idiot!_ ’ Eve yelled, suddenly coming into his view, towering over him. 

‘Did I just hear this right?’ Jeremy asked, emerging from behind the curtain to the bunks in nothing but his boxers. ‘Did you actually just try to kiss Hayley? _Dude_ , that is not cool!’ 

‘The question is, why did she shove me off? You weren’t trying to stop me before your girlfriend started making such a big deal. Wanna ditch her and get with me?’ He redirected his words at Hayley, leering knowingly. ‘Wait, what are you doing?’ 

‘I _believe_ she’s finally coming to her senses,’ Max answered, having materialised in the room the moment he heard the bus door opening.  
Justin glared at him. 

‘You’re not really gonna throw me out right? There are zombies out there!’ 

‘Haven’t seen any for miles,’ Eve informed him unhappily. ‘Shame, really.’ 

‘But … I’ll _die_ out there.’ 

‘Stop being so melodramatic, I saw a treehouse about five minutes back. You’ll be fine.’

‘You can’t do this to me! I’m _Justin Bieber_! I’m better than _all_ of you!’ 

Jeremy grabbed his legs, Josh his arms, and together they swung him out the door and locked it behind him. 

‘Fucking finally,’ Dan muttered. 

******* 

The bus stopped suddenly and Taylor woke up in his bunk, alone and trying not to feel disappointed. There was nothing going on between him and Jeremy anyway, he admonished himself. Just a weird type of … friends with benefits thing that may or may not ever happen again. Which he was completely fine with. Because Jeremy’s heterosexuality had not been crushing him for months before New York at all. It _hadn’t_.  
He still lay there with his face buried in the pillow for ten minutes before the curtain opened and he felt Jeremy slide back in next to him. 

‘Tay? Taylor, you awake?’ 

He grunted an unintelligible response that Jeremy took as an invitation to keep talking. 

‘Guess what just happened!’ 

Taylor reluctantly shifted so they were facing each other and opened one eye, waiting for him to continue. 

‘Bieber just kissed Hayley, while Eve was right there driving, and they both _freaked ___out and Hayley kicked him off the bus! Well, I mean technically Josh and I threw him off the bus but she opened the door for us. It was beautiful!’

While he was actually really relieved that Justin was finally gone, Taylor wasn’t quite equipped to deal with how adorable Jeremy’s face was when he smiled that big, so he just said great and rolled over so they weren’t facing each other anymore and told himself that Jeremy probably spooned with anyone he found himself in a bed with so there was absolutely no point in his heart speeding up that much when he found himself wrapped up in his bandmate’s arms. None at all. 

******* 

A few hours after the whole Justin debacle, Eve and Hayley were snuggled up under a blanket on the couch, a rom-com they’d chosen at random serving as background noise to their conversation. 

‘Do you think he’s okay? I feel kind of bad for just abandoning him now.’ 

‘I don’t! You think he would have left me alone if we kept him here? We’d have to stay locked in the back room for who knows how long!’ 

‘But he could die!’ 

‘Hey, if he thinks he’s half as important as he seems to, there’s no way he’s gonna let himself get killed.’ 

Eve started to laugh and Hayley grinned. 

‘Hey, how’re your family doing?’ Eve asked. 

‘Didn’t I tell you? My mom called earlier to explain! When the zombies got to Nashville almost everyone else in town just went to stay with relatives who haven’t been affected yet. Of course, Granny and Grandat didn’t want to just go with the flow or anything, so they ran over a bunch of zombies that were around a trailer yard, hooked a trailer up to the back of their car and drove round to our house to pick up my mom and my sisters. They’re taking it in turns to drive the car. Erika drove to my dad’s house to pick him up and they’re all fine!’ 

‘I love your family so much,’ Eve chuckled. 

‘Yeah, me too. What’s up with yours?’ 

‘They went to stay with our cousins in Australia for a while. They’re fine.’ 

‘Great, I’m glad they’re okay.’ 

Hayley stifled a yawn and rested her cheek on top of Eve’s hair. 

‘What the hell are we watching?’ 

‘I’ve really got no idea. Wanna check if the back room’s free?’ 

‘Sure, I’m exhausted,’ Hayley nodded. 

‘Too bad we’re not going to sleep for a while, then,’ Eve smirked, pecking Hayley on the lips before dragging her off the couch in the direction of the only room on the bus with a proper bed. 

‘I can live with that,’ Hayley grinned. 

******* 

When Jeremy woke up curled around Taylor for the second time, he grinned into his best friend’s shoulder and then pulled him in closer. Taylor stirred in his sleep and mumbled something unintelligible. Still unconscious, he turned over so they were facing each other and buried his face in Jeremy’s chest. Jeremy lay back and basked in the moment. Before yesterday morning, he’d never actually thought that their friendship could develop into something more, but he’d be lying if he said he didn’t want it now. He was starting to enjoy having someone to wake up next to.


	6. Chapter Six

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> First of all, sorry this took so long. Schoolwork has been taking up every waking moment lately. Secondly, I had this half-written and then lost it so I'm sorry but it may possibly have been better before. Then again, it may have been worse before. But the important thing is, you will never know.

Weeks passed and life on the road was getting harder and harder. Supplies were scarce, and the increasing zombie population meant so were opportunities to raid the stores they passed. There were days when the lounge remained empty and the only person to get out of their bunk was the driver. Mid-June meant sun shining through the windows and that it didn't get dark properly until close to midnight, but it made no difference when they couldn't go outside and leaving the windows open would only waft in the increasingly pungent smell of decomposing flesh rotting in the midsummer sun. The internet went down - as did cell service and the reception on their TVs. The inability to stay in contact with family members meant Hayley spent five hours in the shower one day with her music turned up as high as it could go and went to her own bunk instead of Eve's afterwards. Everyone else's loved-ones were abroad somewhere. Now the entire continent was under quarantine and if you were stuck there then hey, sucks to be you. Eve sighs, pulls Hayley's arm tighter around her and closes her eyes again. It's three in the afternoon, but their sleeping patterns have been messed up since the second or third day and it's not like she's going to miss anything.

 

 

*******

'Josh, wake up. _Wake up!'_

'My sock fell down the watering hole,' Josh mumbles sleepily, rolling away from the voice an pulling his blanket up over his head.

'What? Get your ass out of bed, man. Trust me, you wanna see this.'

When Josh finally opened his eyes and sat up, Jeremy was staring at him trying not to laugh.

'What's up?'

'Remember that window that broke a while back?'

'Yeah?'

'Well, last time we stopped somethin' got through it.'

'Jesus Christ, and we're only finding out _now_?'

'Well  we only started moving again about an hour ago.'

'No we didn't!'

'Yes we did.'

'And why are you laughing!?!'

'Are you wearing a _One Direction_ shirt?'

'Yes.'

Jeremy just shook his head, still laughing, and walked away.

'They've got catchy songs!' Josh murmured to himself, before attempting to jump out of his bunk, getting caught in the sheets and falling flat on his face.

'Why aren't you more worried?' he shouted after Jeremy, struggling to untangle himself and only succeeding in making it worse. 'And can someone come help me up, please? There can't be very many less dignified ways to die than this.'

'He's not worried because we're pretty sure they're not zombies,' Matt informed him on his way back to his own bunk, making no attempt to help him, 'and we're about ninety per cent sure we know them.'

'There are _people_ here? That's the opposite of a problem!' He paused for a moment, reconsidering. 'Please tell me it's not the Jonas Brothers?'

'Wha- No, it's not the Jonas Brothers.'

'Then what is the problem and, more importantly, why am I awake?'

'There is no problem, and I have no idea why you're awake.'

Josh just stuck his finger up at him for being irritatingly vague, just about managed to stand up with the sheet still somehow knotted around him and struggled to the back room to see what all the fuss was about.

The door creaked slightly as he nudged it open, but it did nothing to disturb the two small figures passed out against the wall. The smaller one had his arms wrapped possesively around the red-head's middle and his head resting on his shoulder. He looked fiercely protective, even in his sleep. The other guy had an arm draped comfortingly around his shoulders, his nose buried in his hair like he'd fallen asleep murmuring  reassurances into it. Josh tried to back out of the room and shut the door behind him, feeling like he was intruding on something he shouldn't be. Because he did know them, or he knew _of_ them, at least, and he didn't want them to think he was a creep for staring at them while they slept.  Unfortunately, he ended up face down on the floor again, taking a bunch of stuff with him and making enough noise to wake the entire bus, were they not all congregated in the lounge, probably discussing what to do when these two woke up.

The response was instant. By the time Josh had managed to roll onto his back the short guy was on his feet with a gun in his hand that was aiming far too close to Josh's head for his comfort.

' _Please don't shoot me I'm too young to die!_ ' he screamed, shielding himself with his arms and squeezing his eyes shut. When nothing happened, he slowly opened one first, then the other, and lowered his hands. Frank Iero was offering a hand to help him up, his eyes twinkling in amusement.

'Sorry, man. Force of habit, you know?'

Josh struggled to catch his breath, opening and closing his mouth a few times before anything came out.

'Can't ... can't say I do, mate, no. But sorry. About ... well ...'

'It's fine, I'm sorry. I mean, it is your bus and everything. It's just we actually had to ditch the Trans Am about three days ago and being out in the open for that long makes you kind of jittery. C'mon, let me help you up.'

Josh took his proferred hand and jumped to his feet, finally free of the damn sheet.

'Well, we should probably let everyone else know you're awake.'

'No nee- is that a One Direction t-shirt?' Gerard asked.

'They have catchy songs, okay?' Josh had no idea why people felt the need to question his taste in music.

'Riiight. Well, as I was saying, probably everyone in you bus is standing at the door trying not to laugh at you, so they probably know we're awake.'

'Of course they are,' Josh muttered.

*******

'So, how did half of MCR end up on our bus?' Eve asked.

'You know we bro-'

'How did half of MCR end up on our bus?'

'But we're not -'

'We are in the middle of a zombie apocalypse. We have been stuck on this tour bus for who knows how long, the water stopped working ages ago and I haven't even _seen_ a bowl of Cap'n Crunch in weeks. _Weeks_. So let's just cut the crap okay. You are one half of My Chemical Romance, my favourite band who are still together and never broke up. You can be my favourite _idea_ that never broke up, if that's what you want, but you. Did. Not. Break. Up. Now, how did half of MCR end up on our bus?'

Gerard and Frank exchanged glances before apparently deciding there was no point in arguing.

'Well Mikey and Ray were staying with us in LA when things started going down. The first one got in through the back door when we were all watching a movie. We managed to get rid of that one pretty quick but when we looked out the window we could see about twenty more of 'em out in the yard. The Trans Am was the nearest car we got to so we all just jumped in and took off.' Gerard started.

'Yeah, so, here's where it gets a little more complicated,' Frank joined in. 'Firstly we just kept driving for a few days. The three who weren't driving would just sleep until it was their turn and we managed to stop in a couple gas stations for coffee and food. After a while though, it got pretty fuckin' painful, you know. So we started breaking into empty houses at night, because by this stage all the sane people had left the country, and sleeping in actual beds at night. We'd sleep in shifts, obviously, but it was still better than sleeping in shifts in a car, right?'

'So about a week later,' Gerard continued 'We realise that we've taken a really roundabout route to DC. And we're driving, in our fuckin' Trans Am that doesn't even have a roof, and we pass the White House and -'

'Gerard likes to exaggerate this part,' Frank interrupted, ' but long story short, we kind of took over the White House. And we picked up a couple of other bands that were stupid enough to stay in the country too, so it's kinda like we packed up Warped Tour and fit it in the White House.'

'My version is much more exciting,' Gerard muttered.

'It's also a massive lie,' Frank laughed. 'But I guess to answer your question, me and Gerard felt a bit stifled there after three months, so we decided to take the Trans Am out for a ride.'

'Which was nice and romantic and all,' Gerard continued 'until we stop at a gas station to get some food and we come back out to see a massive hoard surrounding the Trans Am. They fucking _destroyed_ it!'

'So we ran away, because there was no way we'd get out of that confrontation alive, and we had to walk outside for _three days_ until we got to the next gas station. Which was where we found you guys's bus.'

'And we knocked but I guess you were all gone to get supplies or something, because no-one answered. So we assumed it was just another deserted bus and we climbed in through the back window and I guess we fell asleep pretty much straight away. How long did we sleep for, actually?'

'An hour, maybe an hour and a half, I guess. That's when we left the last gas station and you definitely weren't here before,' Chris answered from the driver's seat.

'Hang on, wait. Just. Gimme a sec, here. You guys _took over the White House_?'

'Um, yeah, I guess.'

'And you've got lots of other bands there?'

'I wouldn't say a lot, I mean we've got Fall Out Boy, All Time Low, Panic! and Ryan Ross, who was suspiciously with them at the time even though he's " _definitely not back in the band"_ and him and Brendon _"didn't finally realise our undying love for each other and decide to elope, Frank, stop being an idiot!"_ Okay Ryan. We all know who's bedroom you stay in every night and it is _not_ yours.'

'So anyway,' Taylor asked, 'what happens now?'

'Hopefully, we get to ride with you guys to the White House and you can stay there with us if you want?'

There was about two seconds of silence before the entire bus errupted with cheers.

'YOU GUYS ARE GONNA HAVE TO DRIVE!''Chris yelled over the noise. 'I HAVE NO IDEA WHERE THE FUCK WE ARE!'


	7. Chapter Seven

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I apologise profusely for this taking so long. I've got exams starting this time next week, but then two weeks after that I'm finished school forever so hopefully I'll be able to update more regularly during the summer, at least.

'And then Gerard just shot it's head right off with that freaking ray gun from the _Na Na Na_ video that I didn't even know actually _functioned_ \- seriously dude, you gotta get me one of those - and Frank straight up _swung from the open door frame_ and _karate kicked the last one away_ before we finally managed to circle back around to the gate and get  in here with none of the undead on our tails, it was _awesome_ , I'm telling you!'

A general cheer of approval went up around the room as Jeremy recounted their spectacular entrance to the White House. They'd finally arrived at about eleven the night after picking up Frank and Gerard, exhausted but full of the nervous energy that can only come from the thrill of being in a roomful of friends you thought you'd never see again, in a house that didn't require a driver, and eating actual food that had been made using a proper cooker.

'You have _no idea_ how good this curry tastes to me right now, man,' Taylor moaned, sinking back onto the couch and making obscene facial expressions as he continued to eat. Jeremy guessed from the smug look on Andy's face that he'd been the one to make it.

Hayley was somehow managing to hold a conversation with Pete Wentz while simultaneously wolfing down God knows how many veggie wraps and keeping a reassuring arm wrapped around Eve, who was keeping impressively calm for someone Jeremy knew was in the same room as all of her favourite bands. Most of You Me At Six were doing shots with the All Time Low guys, besides Chris and Dan, who were falling asleep on a couch next to the Panic! guys and Ryan.

Jeremy flopped back on the couch next to Taylor, grinning and barely stifling a yawn himself. Staying up late had never been out of the ordinary for him, and especially since the start of what everyone was avoiding referring to out loud as _The Dang Apocalypse_ , sleeping patterns had been somewhat non-existent. What he wasn't used to was being awake for over twenty-four hours, and he was pretty sure most of the others were just as tired as he was, even if they weren't saying it.

'Hey, so you want us to show you those bedrooms we promised?' Gerard asked, pulling Frank up from the beanbag they'd been smooshed together on.

With the exception of Josh, Max and Matt, everyone who'd been on the bus followed the two of them out a door leading into a long corridor.

'Okay, so, I think _this_ one's free if someone wants to take that,' Gerard motioned to the room directly opposite the one they'd just left. Dan promptly took him up on the offer and mumbled a quick 'G'night' before letting the door fall closed behind him.

'So's _this_ one,' he pointed out another door a little further up, which Chris disappeared behind, 'and _that_ one, I think, has a king-sized bed, if you guys want to take it,' he nodded at Hayley and Eve.

'Thanks, you guys,' Hayley said, giving each of them a hug before she went to collapse on the bed. Eve followed suite and finally it was just Jeremy and Taylor left to find rooms.

'Okay, um ... that one's ours, that's Dallon's, that's Spencer's, _that_ 's directly under Jack and Alex, that's Brendon's ... hang on a second, we'll find you someplace, don't worry.'

They rounded a corner, climbed a flight of stairs, walked down another corridor, rounded _another_ corner and finally ended up in a little hallway with just three doors.

'This one's Ryan's,' Gerard indicated at the door furthest to the right.

'Which he _never uses_ ,' Frank mumbled gleefully into Gerard's shoulder.

'But you guys can have either of the other two. I think the one in the left's got a bigger bed, but you can take whichever you want,' Gerard finished.

'Um ...' Taylor said.

'Don't even try. I've got mystical relationship detecting powers. And like I said, Ryan's never even here, so if you guys aren't out yet you're far enough away that no one's gonna notice you're in the same room,' Frank said in a completely matter of fact voice.

'I ... uh ... I have no idea what you're talking about,' Taylor stammered. Jeremy tried and failed not to get distracted by wondering how far down his blush went. 'Anyway, goodnight, guys. Thanks for having us!' With that, he slammed the bedroom door shut behind him.

'Is he okay?' Gerard asked, raising an eyebrow.

'Guess he's just not ready to come out yet,' Jeremy shrugged. 'Mind if I use the other bedroom until he calms down?'

'Sure, no problem,'

'And, um, would you guys mind not mentioning this to anyone just yet?

'Of course, man. Listen, if you can't find your way back in the morning just give us a call, one of us will come get you.'

'Thanks. Goodnight!'

Jeremy waved as the two of them walked off, hands around each other's waists and Frank's head resting on Gerard's shoulder as he murmured something in his ear. The two of them burst into high pitched giggles just before they rounded the corner, and Jeremy turned to open the door of the middle room.

*******

Back in the living room, the conversation had started to get a little more serious.

'We're probably going to have to go on a supply run pretty soon now that you guys showed up,' Rian mentioned suddenly.

'Rian, I love you, but how did we jump from Josh hooking up with a crossdressing stripper to a _supply run_? Is there something you've been meaning to tell us? Do you want to go pick up some dresses?'

'What? _No_ , I just -'

'Because you know we love you no matter what, dude. You can tell us,'

'Alex, I _do not_ want to wear women's clothing. Not that there's anything wrong with people who do. Why do you look disappointed?'

'Of course he doesn't,' Jack interrupted, 'he was obviously talking about the strippers in general. Which, I think maybe they're mostly gone or undead, but like if you wanna go for it I'm totally down with -'

'Jack, I don't want to have sex with some zombie chick. I have a girlfriend.'

'Who's gone to live with her _Norwegian cousins_ , dude, she'd never know.'

'Okay they're not her cousins, they're these fans _Hey Monday_ made friends with when they toured there who offered them a place to stay. And I'm not _cheating on her_ with a _zombie_.'

'Your loss, dude, I think I'm gonna go for it.'

'Yeah, no you're not, you idiot. I'm not fucking you after they make you one of them. Your dick would probably fall off,' Alex interrupted.

Before Jack could consider it for too long, Zack got back on topic.

'He just meant food and toilet paper and shit, you perverts.'

Rian shot him a grateful look and Jack and Alex continued to argue between themselves about the pros and cons of zombie sex.

'We've got a few things in the bus but they probably won't last all that long,' Matt said.

'Hey, we can use the bus now, that's an improvement!'

'I thought they picked you guys up when you were on tour, too. Didn't you have buses?'

'I'm pretty sure yours is the only one that was still upright when you got to it. We came out of the venue and ours was on its side with the windows smashed and surrounded by about thirty of the fuckers. I'm not sure about the rest of the bands but I think it's pretty much the same story.'

'Oh. Well yeah, you could definitely fit more in the bus than in the Trans Am or whatever you were using.'

'We can figure it out with the My Chem guys in the morning, they're usually in charge of this shit. Oh, and don't call them 'the My Chem guys' when they're around. They get really pissy for days.'

'I'll keep that in mind.'

'Tequila?'

'Please.'

*******

It took four hours of staring at the ridiculously intricate pattern on the ceiling, knowing that Taylor was doing the exact same thing, before Jeremy finally rolled off his bed and crept out into the hallway. He knocked quietly on Taylor's door, not wanting to wake him up if he was wrong and Taylor was sleeping fine. After three minutes of silence, Jeremy pushed the door open softly and tiptoed over to the bed, where Taylor was lying on his side. He climbed in behind and cautiously put an arm around his waist. After a few minutes, Taylor put his hand over Jeremy's and pulled him closer. He was awake, then.

'Sorry about earlier,' he piped up unexpectedly.

'Don't worry about it,' Jeremy mumbled, finding it hard to keep his eyes open.

'I just ... I don't know, I ... I’m sorry.’

Taylor could hear the tremble in his voice, which was bad because if he could hear it then Jeremy, Jeremy could definitely hear it and he did not want Jeremy to find out that Taylor actually liked him, that he wanted to do more than just fuck him because there was nobody else around because then they’d have to stop, and as much as it was killing him to do this with Jerm it would kill him even more to not. He’d known it was a bad idea to begin with but he’d let himself go with it like an idiot, and now he was so used to falling asleep with Jeremy’s arms around him that he’d wake up when he so much as got up to use the bathroom. And Jeremy didn’t even fucking know; didn’t even suspect that there was anything going on besides casual sex between friends and now Frank and Gerard and their stupid relationship detecting powers were making assumptions and –

‘Stop thinking so loud,’ Jeremy grumbled, burying his face deeper into Taylor’s neck and biting it gently. ‘Your completely irrational internal monologue is keeping me awake.’

‘Says the asshole that climbed into my bed at three thirty in the morning,’ Taylor grumbled, but there was no heat in his voice.

‘Yeah, well, what can I say? These beds are too big for just one person.’

‘Not for you, you massive bed-hog. I don’t know how many times I’ve woken up with your elbow in my eye, or something equally ridiculous.’

‘Well, bunks are too small for just one person, nevermind two.’

‘Shut up and go to sleep.’

‘That’s what I’ve been saying.’

Taylor elbowed him half-heartedly in the ribs before finally settling down and trying to get his mind to relax. Jeremy kissed his neck and sighed contentedly. Taylor gave it three minutes before he started snoring softly.

*******

The smell of bacon wafted in under the door and woke Jeremy at about eleven the next morning. He carefully extracted his arm from around Taylor, climbed out of bed and opened the door, only to run smack into a grinning Frank Iero.

'Just came to escort you guys down to the kitchen for breakfast,' he beamed, bouncing up and down on his toes.

'Great, thanks, just uh ... just give me a second to put some clothes on, man,' Jeremy said, rubbing his eyes and squinting at the sunlight streaming in the window of the wall opposite.

'Of course, of course. Taylor nearly ready?'

'I think he's still sleeping, I'd leave him there for a while. I don't think he's been getting much sleep lately. I can bring him some food when I'm done,' he replied, stretching before going into his own room to pull on the clothes he'd thrown on the floor last night. When he was done, he went back outside to Frank, who was raising an eyebrow smugly at a very tousled-looking Ryan Ross, who was traipsing down the hallway to his own bedroom wearing nothing but a pair of silk pyjama pants, appearing completely unphased by Frank's gaze.

'Morning, Ross,' Frank greeted him.

'Fuck off, Iero,' he replied. 'I have not had enough coffee to deal with your wildly inaccurate fantasies of my evening activities. I slept right here, in that very bed, on my very own.'

'Then where were you just now?'

'I had to take a piss. Would you like me to keep a diary of my urinary habits and present it to you each breakfast-time?'

'Well, if you're offering -'

'I'll see you at breakfast, Frank. Morning, Jeremy. How was your first night out of the bunks?'

'Pretty awesome, thanks.'

'Good. Well, I guess I'll see you at breakfast, too. Don't drink all the coffee, fuckers.'

'Wouldn't dream of it, Ross,' Frank grinned, looking very much as if he were planning just that. Ryan flipped him off over his shoulder before disappearing into his bedroom.

'He shouldn't let Brendon give him so many hickies if he's going to wander around shirtless denying their sex-life,' Jeremy mused. Frank beamed at him.

*******

Breakfast, it seemed, was something of a family affair. Pete and Mikey were responsible for the enticing scent of bacon that had woken Jeremy. Joe and Ray were buttering mountains of bread rolls, Gerard and Brendon were manning the coffee machines, and Frank joined Andy and Patrick in providing a presumably vegan alternative to the bacon as soon as they walked in. Dallon, Alex and Zack were sitting at a huge table piled high with cutlery, glasses, plates, and mugs, which Jeremy assumed was their contribution, and Spencer was balancing about six jugs of orange juice on a tray before Rian relieved him of two of them and plonked them on the table in front of Dallon. Jack came into the room a few minutes after Frank and Jeremy, scratching at his crotch through his pyjama pants and leading Hayley, Eve and You Me At Six.

‘Hey, you guys must be special; he put on pants for you!’ Joe exclaimed.

‘Yeah, well, your idiot boyfriend threatened to set me on fire if I scared them off,’ Jack shot back, looking thoroughly put out.

‘Hey, idiot boyfriend, can you threaten to set him on fire more often?’ Joe asked, wandering over behind Andy and putting his arms around his waist.

‘If I’d known it’d work I would’ve done it ages ago,’ Andy said, turning his head slightly to peck Joe on the lips before turning back to the frying pan.

‘I don’t see what your problem is. I have a great dick. You should all feel honoured,’ Jack muttered, climbing onto Alex’s lap and stealing his orange juice.

‘Yeah, the feeling of honour wore off when we started finding pubes in the pancakes, buddy,’ Pete said, putting a plate of bacon and sausages down in front of them and grabbing his own chair.

‘Prudes,’ Jack smirked, downing the last of the orange juice and moving into the seat next to Alex’s to let him reach the food properly.

‘I’d say mornings aren’t always like this but, well, mornings are always like this,’ Patrick offered apologetically, setting a plate of vegan pancakes down and accepting a cup of coffee from Brendon.

‘Don’t worry, we don’t let him near the food anymore,’ Ryan said, appearing in the doorway wearing the exact same thing he had been when Jeremy bumped into him earlier. Brendon laughed a little too enthusiastically and Ryan just smiled at him indulgently.

Everyone who was still standing found an empty seat and grabbed a plate before digging in. Jeremy grinned across the table at Hayley, who returned it enthusiastically, mouthing ‘Where’s Taylor?’ over the noise. Jeremy made a gesture that he hoped indicated ‘sleeping’ and she nodded, still smiling, and turned to answer something Spencer said. When Mikey asked Jeremy if they’d encountered anyone else on the roads, he laughed, started eating his breakfast and recounted the Justin Bieber story between bites.

*******

Taylor had woken up as soon as Jeremy had gotten out of bed, but he’d feigned sleep because he wasn’t quite ready to get up just yet. After about a half an hour, though, it became apparent that he wasn’t going to be able to get back to sleep, so he pulled on his clothes from last night, made a mental note to retrieve the rest of their stuff from the bus sooner rather than later, and decided to try and follow the smell of food down to the kitchen. Unfortunately, several corridors and a few staircases later, he’d managed to completely lose the scent and get himself hopelessly lost in the process. He snorted at his own idiocy and dug his hand into his pocket for his phone. Sure, Hayley and Jeremy had no more clue how to navigate this place than he did, but hopefully they’d be smart enough to find someone who could before they came looking for him.

His phone wasn’t in his pocket. Which - fantastic, he guessed. Great. Not only had he managed to get himself lost, but he’d managed to make sure he was uncontactable and unable to contact anyone himself in the process. This was really wonderful. Especially because everyone else was at breakfast and probably assumed he was still sleeping. Short of screaming himself hoarse and embarrassing himself in front of the rest of the bands before he’d even gotten a chance to meet the majority of them, there wasn’t much he could do really besides continue to aimlessly wander and hope he ended up circling back around. Hopefully Jeremy would go back to the room soon enough and wonder where he'd gone. Hungry and lost was not the state he'd prefer to make first impressions in.

 

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Please excuse my blatant lack of knowledge as regards to the layout of the White House. It seemed like a good idea to have them shack up there at the time but I've genuinely no idea about it and am therefore going to treat it as a mansion of my own design. If this greatly bothers you for some reason then I'm truly sorry.


	8. Chapter Eight

Taylor lasted about fifteen minutes before deciding didn't care what sort of a first impression he gave the other bands. Screw the other bands. Taylor was hungry and confused about Jeremy and a little bit terrified of being lost forever in the of the White House and he kind of had to pee. He'd make for the crappy first impression with a spectacular second impression following his morning bowl of cereal.

' _HAAAAAAAAAAYLEEEEEEEEEEEY_?' he shouted, hoping he wasn't far enough away that no one would able  to hear him. ' _JEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEERM_?'

He kept shouting until, about fifteen minutes later, he heard slow, shuffling footsteps coming up the hallway to his left. Preparing to run to his rescuer and perhaps give them a grateful hug, Taylor saw who his rescuer was, did a quick about turn and started running in the opposite direction, screaming even more loudly than he had been before.

' _ZOMBIES! IN THE WHITE HOUSE!_ _THERE ARE ZOMBIES IN THE WHITE HOUSE! HEEEEEEEEEELP1'_

*******

'Okay, I should probably take some of this up to Taylor, I bet he's laying in bed starving but afraid of getting lost,' Jeremy said, pulling his chair back from the table and starting to pile up a few plates of food.

'Do you need one of us to show you the way back?' Gerard asked around a mouthful of pancake.

'No, I'll be fine, you guys finish eating,'

'Okay, see you later, then.' Gerard waved goodbye, and everyone else followed suite.

'See you guys.'

Jeremy added a bowl of cereal to the tray he'd managed to balance everything else on and started to make his way back to the room. After about five minutes, he finally managed to open the door without dropping anything, but Taylor wasn't in the room.

'Taylor?,' he called out, putting the tray down on top of a bedside table. 'Tay?'

When no one answered, he assumed that Taylor had just gone to find a toilet or something, but then ten minutes passed and he started to get concerned. He picked up his phone and started to dial Taylor's number before he noticed his phone sticking out from under a pillow on the bed. Fantastic.

Deciding that the best thing to do was probably to recruit everyone else to help him search, Jeremy barely got outside the bedroom door before he heard something that made his blood run cold. That was definitely a scream, and that was definitely Taylor's voice, and that was definitely the word zombie.

' _Gerard!,'_ Jeremy shouted, running back towards the kitchen. ' _Gerard, I'm going_ _to be needing one of those guns_ _right_   _about now_!'

*******

Much later, after the zombie had been gotten rid of and the previously unnoticed, currently smashed in window boarded up, Jeremy and Taylor were watching a DVD in their room.

'Thanks for saving me from a slow and painful death by zombie,' Taylor said for tenth time since Jeremy had come running around the corner, brandishing a laser gun and shooting it with incredible accuracy at the five zombies that had managed to climb into the building and corner Taylor. Everyone else followed about ten seconds later but Jeremy hadn't left them anything to help with. They hadn't had to look very far before they found the broken window, and while Andy and Zack went off to get some boards to cover it up, he took Taylor's hand and led him back here. He'd meant to talk to him or hold him or something, but somehow they'd ended up as far apart from each other as it was possible to get on the little couch, staring at the screen, Taylor's expressions of gratitude the only breaks in their silence.

Jeremy was afraid Taylor was mad at him for holding his hand in front of everyone, but didn't feel like he could say it because Jeremy'd just saved his life.

Taylor was afraid that he'd let himself get in too fucking deep and resolved to never touch Jeremy ever again if it was going to make him feel like  _that_.

'Are you -'

'Do you think we should -'

Jeremy laughed softly and gestured for Taylor to go ahead.

'Sorry, um. I was just going to say that - well, I guess what I mean is - I suppose I'm just trying to ask if - do you think maybe we should stop? This?' he pointed back and forth between them a few times, 'Whatever this is? Do you think maybe it's a bad idea?'

Shocked, hurt, and convinced this was because he'd grabbed Taylor's hand earlier, Jeremy didn't do a great job of masking his emotions.

'Do  _you?'  
_

Taylor was surprised at the apparent distress in Jeremy's voice, but kept going anyway.

'Yeah? I mean, maybe? I'm not sure I'm cut out for this, Jerm.'

'You're not cut out for what?'

'For  _this!_ For  _us_ , whatever we are. Whatever we're doing. I can't keep having sex with you and sleeping in the same bed as you and waking up with you spooning me and still be friends! You were  _holding my hand_ the whole way back here,for God's sake! What am I supposed to do with that? How am I supposed to be content with being your friend when you  _hold my fucking hand?_  I'm not cut out for this friends with benefits  _bullshit_ , okay? It's not working for me, I'm sorry!'

Jeremy was silent for a while, and for a moment Taylor was afraid that he'd just fucked everything up anyway. Then Jeremy got up, climbed into Taylor's lap, took his face in both hands and looked him in the eye.

'I'm doing this,' he said calmly, 'because I've been under the impression we were dating since I gave you a hand job in your bunk after we picked up Bieber, and I've been pretty happy about that.'

And then he leaned down to kiss Taylor, and Taylor didn't try to stop him.

*******

That night, Hayley and Eve came up for a movie night. Eve went off to find some popcorn, and after Hayley put  _Wayne's World_ into the DVD player, she went to sit on the couch next to Taylor.

'Um, I would sit on the bed if I were you,' he mumbled, blushing and refusing to look her in the eye.

'Why?' she asked, ignoring his advice and picking up the blanket she'd assumed was there for snuggling up under.

'Oh,' she said, not sounding nearly surprised enough to find a massive wet stain beneath it. She raised an eyebrow at them both. Taylor tried to melt into the couch, and Jeremy just grinned and linked their hands together.

' _Oh,'_  she said again, seeming much more surprised by this. 'Thank  _God!_ If it'd taken y'all any longer I would've owed Ryan 50 cupcakes.'

'Wait, you  _bet_ on us - what did you bet on us doing, exactly?' Taylor asked.

'We may or may not have all bet on how long it'd take you both to stop pretending you're not stupidly in love with each other. Ryan's the only one that bet longer than me. Probably because of how long he's been pretending he's not stupidly in love with Brendon. But anyway, that's not important. I'm so happy for you guys!'

Taylor and Jeremy smiled at each other and Jeremy ducked his head down and rested it on Taylor's chest.

Hayley made a face and threw herself across both of their laps.

'Stop being cute until my girlfriend gets back,' she complained, just as Eve walked in with two big bowls of microwave popcorn.

'Okay I'm really happy for you both and everything,' she said, 'but if you'd figured this all out last week I would have had a song written about me by every band in this house, so you'll understand if I resent you a little.'

She set one bowl of popcorn down on the table in front of them.

'Now release my girlfriend, we're stealing your bed for the duration of this movie.'

Hayley stood up after giving them both a massive hug, got into the bed, put her arm around Eve and pressed play on the DVD remote.

By the time the movie was over, Jeremy was asleep on Taylor's shoulder, but Taylor didn't mind. Not anymore.

 

 

**Author's Note:**

> If you like the fic so far, feel free to leave comments or kudos. And it'd be good if you could let me know if you're waiting for an update.


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